


APPRENTICE

by ChimsChimminies



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Angst, But its rlly light i promise, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn, So many AUs wow, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2018-12-14 09:24:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11780202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChimsChimminies/pseuds/ChimsChimminies
Summary: Kim Wonpil: a young man following his childhood dream of becoming a tattoo artist by joining an apprenticeship program at Day6 Tattoo Parlour.Kang Younghyun: the barista across the road that makes it hard for Wonpil to function.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> For faster updates, read this on Wattpad at: http://my.w.tt/UiNb/tW8UHLDJxF
> 
> Ao3 is not my primary choice for writing, sorry.

Since he was a little boy, short and a little chubby, he wanted to do art. The one thing he enjoys more than anything is creating; patterns, colors, figures, shadows, anything, really he loved to portray, using his own two hands to put on a canvas.

His mother got him his first coloring set when he was 6 years old. It consisted of 62 different crayons, all different shades and colors. He was so excited and happy, he started drawing immediately. He drew his mother a picture of a flower, his dad a car and his big sister a few squiggly lines that he saw as a princess crown.

He was encouraged to pursue anything he wanted, everyone creating a metaphorical chair to support him and make his life comfortable enough for him to make his own path.

The first tattoo he ever saw, he traced with his little fingers on so many times, he was afraid it would wash away.

A family friend, May, who spoke English clearly, came to his parents' place to visit on his seventh birthday. She was a tall woman, with hair that reached the small of her back, dressed in a pink dress, who smiled and hugged Wonpil the very first time they met.

She had a dragon on her right arm, that went all the way from her shoulder to her little finger. He remembers it to this day, clearly. It was green, with golden and subtle details. With a long body, like a snake and horns on above its eyes. Split tongue coming from its open mouth and wrapped itself around the woman's finger.

He stared at it and touched it, afraid it would bite him. It looked as if it would come alive at any wrong move, so with caution, he placed his index finger softly above its eyes, close to the base of the golden and maroon horns.

"Wonpil! That's rude!" his mother exclaimed, before she was interrupted by the pretty lady with the scary tattoo.

"Oh, it's quite alright, Mrs. Kim!" She laughed, looking down at Wonpil who was preparing himself to apologize, something he rarely needed to do, "Do you like it?"

Wonpil nodded, still confused. Was he in trouble?

"You can touch it if you want," May smiled sweetly at him.

"What is it?" The boy asked shyly, his hand already back on her skin, the curious creature looking back at him, almost encouraging him to discover the intricacies of its design.

"It's a tattoo, Wonpil," his mother answered for May.

"Is it a painting?"

"You could say it is," May answered. "A painting on someone's skin. It stays there forever."

Wonpil was enamoured with the idea of painting on people's skin, and even more so with the fact that it would stay there forever. Sometimes, his papers would get ripped if he wasn't careful, or used the erased to forcefully, so he thought about how awesome it would be to have his drawings on his body so the whole world would know how much he loved art.

A few days after May had left, he asked his mother if he could draw a tattoo on her.

His mother laughed and handed him a nontoxic crayon from the kit on her son's table and gave him her hand.

"Draw me a beautiful tattoo, baby," she smiled at her son warmly, who was already scrunching his nose in thought.

They stood like that, mother and son, together on the floor of Wonpil's bedroom for hours. She asked questions, wanting to know what he would draw, but he never showed her and told her to look away so the surprise wouldn't be spoiled, to which his mother complied before throwing an adoring look towards her son.

When his father came back home, he found the two and asked what was  happening with a curious tone.

"I'm drawing mommy a tattoo," Wonpil said proudly, showing his father a proud toothy smile.

"Can I see?"

Wonpil nodded, and showed it to his father, small hands holding his mother's left hand with a little bit of difficulty. The man smiled at his son after seeing the pattern on his wife's skin.

"Does she know what you're drawing?" Mr. Kim asked.

"Not yet! I want it to be a surprise!"

"Okay, buddy," the man laugher airily. "Can I sit next to her?"

Wonpil nodded at his father and moved a little so that the man had enough space to sit.

After another half an hour of labour, as the adults talked about his father's day at work, Wonpil finally announced that his mother was allowed to see his masterpiece.

She giggled, looking at her arm. She gasped in surprise and laughed loudly, clearly happy with her son's hard work.

"It's beautiful, baby," she complimented him, looking at her son and caressing his cheek gingerly.

There was now a large sunflower on her arm, displayed on the skin of her inner forearm, drawn with as much dexterity as a seven year old could manage, but still impressively colored.

Later that night, when she told Wonpil that she has to take it off, the younger was confused out of his mind. Didn't Mrs. May say that it would last forever? He wanted it to be on his mother's arm forever, so that she could love his art forever.

When the little boy expressed his frustrations to his mother through sloppy, fat tears, his mother hugged him close.

"Wonpil, you know I will love your art, always!"

The boy just shook his head and muttered something inaudible.

"What did you say, sunshine?"

"I want you to have my art forever..."

With a comforting smile, the woman looked at him and chuckled.

"When you become a tattoo artist, baby, I'll let you give me a tattoo, just like this one," she said, drying his tears with her warm, slim fingers, "So I'll have your art forever, okay?"

 


	2. First

"Do you have your recommendation letter?"

"Yes, mom," Wonpil replies, trying his hardest to sound nice.

"Your lun-"

"Mom," Wonpil interrupts her, placing both of his hands on the shorter woman's shoulders, "I'm fine. I have everything, I checked twice. Calm down."

His mother looks at him, searching his expression for a few seconds and then sighs. She hugs him, placing her ching on his shoulder and smiles.

"It's just- it's your first day and I want everything to go okay for you, baby, I don't want it to be like last time," she said, her son hugging her back.

"I know mom," he whispers, "Thank you."

She laughs airily and lets him go, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Okay, enough of this! You have to get going!"

Wonpil chuckles at his mother's sudden change in demeanour and gets his backpack from where it was waiting for him. He hugs his mother once more and kisses her forehead before turning to leave.

"Bye, mom! Love you!" He calls, already out the door and jogging lightly.

"Love you too! Take care!"

 

* * *

 

 

When he finally reaches the door of the famous Tattoo Parlour, his anxiety starts to come back. For 16 years, he's loved art and tattoos. For 16 years, he's been learning more and more, getting his fingers to move faster on the paper, learning small techniques that would help him to develop his dexterity and knowledge.

But right now, faced with this door, remembering what happened after the first time he was face to face with one, he's hesitant to enter.

He shakes of his nerves and reminds himself of what his mother said. He can do this. He's worked hard. Leaving things in the past is what he does best, based on experience. He can figure this out.

He looks and pushes it, taking one more brief look at the logo. "Day6 Tattoo Parlour", imprinted on it. He doesn't know what to make of them just yet.

He's met with a cozy, well decorated room, and he's ready to take in every inch of it, when he's stopped rather rudely from doing so.

A large, well built man walks out if a room to his right, bumping into him. Or at least, that's what the other man would've felt, but Wonpil isn't nearly as sturdy or strong as the other, so he loses his balance and manages to end up on the floor, with pain surging through his body from the impact.

He looks up at the man, who is staring menacingly at him. He feels his breathing get cut off.

Oh, God, this was a mistake, go back, go back, I'm gonna get killed, bitch, run-

"Oh, hey there, buddy. Sorry, didn't see you," the man that may or may not be a gang member says, showing Wonpil a toothy and friendly smile. He offers his hand to help him up, oblivious of the smaller man's fears. He takes it and gets up off the floor, dusting off his pants, despite the floor beating squeaky clean.

"I-It's okay! No worries!" He says nervously.

"Well then! Bye Jae!" The man says loudly, before taking off.

"See you, Benny!" Wonpil hears a voice call from the room as the man that resembled a bodybuilder walked out through the same door he came in through.

He decides not to intrude, so he just sits down on one of the armchairs and lets his heart rate come down. He knows he shouldn't judge anyone by their appearance, however, when met with someone so much stronger than him, his instinct is to just run and hide, and as bad as that makes him feel, he doesn't have anything else that he can do.

He decides to admire the interior of the shop, taking in the small details that went into its decoration. The reception is a fairly large room, with a counter that resembles a bar about three feet away from a wall that's sporting a large tattoo design, a logo of the shop right next to it.

After a few more minutes of staring at his surroundings, he sees a tall man with glasses and full of tattoos on his arms exit the room the man he bumped into was just a few minutes prior. He gets up, and waits to be addressed.

"How can I help you?" The man asks, approaching Wonpil. He has a bag in his right hand, which no doubt holds instruments that Wonpil at the moment can only dream to hold, and his left hand is resting in his pocket lazily.

"Uh, yes, hello, I'm here for the apprenticeship program? I sent you an e-mail a few days ago and was told to be here at this hour?" Wonpil says, tone rising higher at the end of the sentence, and he mentally kicks himself for sounding so unsure.

"You asking me?" The man asks, looking pretty amused at Wonpil's pain.

"N-no?"

God dammit.

The other laughs, shoulders shaking and Wonpil wonders if he'd have to work with him in the future, because if he does, he might just choose a stripper career.

"Let me get these sanitized and I'll get back to you immediately. Got a recommendation letter? Oh, I'm Jae, by the way," the taller man says, taking his hand out of his pocket and shaking Wonpil's hand.

"Kim Wonpil. It's in my backpack, wait a second," he says, going back to the armchair and opening his backpack on its armrest.

He looks around in it and looks for the pale envelope. It's most likely somewhere under his lunch bag. His lunch bag, which is designed with repetitive pink unicorn logos on it. If he takes it out, he'll never be seen taken seriously around here.

He does so anyway, albeit reluctantly and hesitating, but he places it on the small table next to the armrest. He hears Jae behind him, laughing silently and he prays to God that this guy isn't as much of an asshole as he seems.

Of course, the recommendation letter isn't under the lunch bag like he predicted. It's in the book that he put in the other pocket of the backpck to keep safe.

He mentally facepalms, and opens up the book and gives the letter to Jae, who is smirking at Wonpil and his now fully flushed face.

This is so embarrassing.

"I'll be gone about ten minutes. You can lounge around for a while, or you can go get a coffee from across the street," Jae says, examining the letter.

"Oh, uh, sure, thank you. Do you want anything?" Wonpil says, trying to be nice, not actually feeling any kind of desire to buy the other man a coffee.

"An Americano, simple. Get me a cupcake, too. Chocolate, thanks," Jae smiles at him, and then turns and goes down the hall and enters the farthest door.

He didn't even give Wonpil any money... Asshole.

He gets his backpack and exits Day6 Tattoo Parlour. He crosses the empty street quickly and looks at the outside of the coffee shop. It doesn't look too expensive.

He counts his money. 30 dollars. It's most likely more than enough, he decides. Entering the door he, hears the clink of the bell and goes to the counter to order.

"Brian! You have a customer!" He hears someone calling from what seems to be the kitchen.

"Stop calling me Brian!" He hears another voice.

Well this is promising.

He instantly takes back his sarcastic thoughts.

What seems like the most beautiful creature comes to sit behind the counter, looking expectantly at Wonpil. His blond hair held back by a bright green hair pin and a black apron with white dots all over it, he should look absolutely ridiculous, were Wonpil a functioning member of the society.

But seeing as Wonpil was nowhere near functional at this point, he found the man to be the most attractive person he's seen in his 24 years of living.

"Hi, what do you wanna' get?" The man unprofessionally asks Wonpil, who is currently having problems keeping both his heart and blush at bay to care about professionalism.

"Uh, yes. A chocolate cupcake and an Americano. A-also a latte, if you don't mind?" Not again.

"Are you asking me?"

Wonpil decides the hot stranger is an asshole on the spot.

"No, sorry."

The other just chuckles again, taking out some things from under the counter.

"Rough day?" The man asks, already preparing the drinks.

"I guess," Wonpil replies, his finger drumming on his thigh, calming him down.

"Well, hope it gets better," the stranger says, smiling at Wonpil and the shorter man almost melts at how sincere it seems.

He then decides that even if he's an asshole, the barista is not as much of an asshole as Jae, which, in Wonpil's opinion, is a great thing.

"Here you go," the man says, when he's finished with Wonpil's order, handing him his drinks and a cupcake to-go.

"Thank you," Wonpil smiles at him, and then turns around to go back. His ten minutes are not up yet, but he's sure he can't handle any more next to the attractive and ridiculously dressed man.

"Have a nice day!" He hears, before exiting the Coffee Shop.

If he ends up an apprentice across the road, he's most likely not going to live a long and healthy life.


	3. Second

"Ah, you must be Wonpil?"

"Hello, yes, that's me," Wonpil answers the man. He looks at him and doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. No tattoos, no piercings. Is he an artist here?

"I'm Sungjin, the owner," the man smiles at him. Wonpil answers with a smile, himself and begins to relax. Maybe this guy's not as bad as Jae-

"Ah, Wonpil!" Speak of the Devil.

"Hello," he answers, "I got your coffee."

At this Jae freezes and shakes his head, eyes fixed on Wonpil, who doesn't understand what's happening.

"You made someone who doesn't even work here yet go get your coffee? Never mind him being a possible apprentice?" Sungjin asks, curiously calm, if you asked Wonpil. He himself was ready to lunge at Jae anytime for that.

"No, boss, I would-"

Sungjin just sighs and looks at Jae, who smiles sheepishly back at him. Wonpil is now a little bit more than confused. Does this happen on a regular basis?

"Please excuse his manners, Wonpil. He's an idiot," the boss says, shooting daggers with his eyes at Jae, who is trying to think of a way to get out of this situation, if his face was anything to go by.

Wonpil takes pity on him and asks Sungjin about the letter of recommendation.

"Ah, yes!" The man exclaims, "I've talked to your previous teacher a few times, he's a good artist."

"Thank you, sir."

"Oh, no none of that Wonpil, you can speak comfortably with me," Sungjin says, a polite smile on his face.

"Oh, okay," Wonpil awkwardly says, and Jae snorts. Okay, today may not be a good day to commit murder, but Wonpil's stressed and all he can think about is how to do so and not get caught.

"So," Sungjin stops the dangerous train of thought Wonpil adopted for a few seconds, "recommendations aren't often used anymore, but I can see that you're eager and it just shows your commitment, which is a great thing."

Wonpil nods and gives his undivided attention to Sungjin, even ignoring Jae's smirks and snorts as he awkwardly stands in front of his -- hopefully -- soon to be boss. He hangs onto every word the man says, listening as he compliments him for his portfolio with something like a proud smile perched on his face, although his fingers are nervously tapping his thighs.

"What I'm saying, Wonpil, is that we would I would like to offer you an apprenticeship here for the next year," the man ends his short speech.

Wonpil doesn't get it at first, but as the statement dawns on him, he asks himself if it was real what he heard.

"Are you serious?" Wonpil says, excited, his fingers finally ceasing to tap his leg continuously.

"Yes, of course," Sungjin laughs at his reaction.

"Oh! Oh my God! Thank you, Sungjin! I won't let you down!"

Jae full on laughs at the man's reaction, while he and his boss shake hands. The kid still has to hear the news, though.

"So, you'll be under the tutelage of Jae right here," Sungjin says.

For the nth time that day, Wonpil wants to kill Jae. This time, only for existing.

The artist starts laughing, holding his abdomen as he wheezes.

That, too, stops when Sungjin looks at him with a deadly glare.

-

"Dude," is the first thing BamBam says when they see each other. "You get to work with the man that tattoos G-Dragon."

"Hello, to you too, best friend," Wonpil says, rolling his eyes at his best friend.

"G-Dragon! Dude, how are you not excited right now?"

"Stop using the word 'dude' every sentence. Also, Jae's an asshole."

"All the geniuses are, man. Except GD."

"Bambam, stop."

-

When she heard the news, his mother was beyond excited. She started jumping while holding onto his shoulders, while Wonpil tried to calm her down, only to receive even more happy and excited screams.

He was beyond himself with excitement and happiness, too. But he's too tired and when he arrived home his mom got on his case instantly. But he has to be nice to her, he doesn't want her to feel bad. So he tells her everything that happened, right in the middle of the living room and waits for her response.

"Well... It's just, my teacher's kind of rude," he says.

"Oh, baby, I'm sure he'll at least try to behave while on the job. You told me he's a good one, so I'm pretty sure it's gonna be okay," she says looking up at him with sympathetic eyes.

"You're right. I'm sure he can at least try to be professional."

-

"Good morning, shorty."

Well, that's that.

"I'm pretty sure you're only 5 or so centimeters taller than me."

Jae just shrugs and beckons him to come closer. He does so, putting down his backpack on the armchair he stood on just the day before and settles next to Jae, who's looking at a list of what seem to be indications for a tattoo sketch.

"So, we have a client this week," Jae starts. "She's coming in two days to get a tattoo with these details," he says, pointing to a column on the sheet of paper, "and with this line art," he says, pointing to another column.

Wonpil reads over the list, excited, and looks up at Jae afterwards.

"Now, I don't want you to be here without actually learning something, so I'm going to make you do some of the assignments we get, in parallel with me," Jae explains.

"Really?" The apprentice says, already smiling.

 _Is this guy the actual sun, Jesus,_ Jae thinks, watching Wonpil as he grows more and more excited.

"Don't get too excited, yet, kiddo', you'll just be sketching and getting used to using transfer paper and what not. But, who knows, maybe soon enough, if you're good, you'll get to actually have your design on someone's skin, you know?"

Wonpil wants to yell in happiness. He didn't expect Jae to be so cool right off, but he's been pleasantly surprised by the other man. His words only show how much he want Wonpil to learn, and it makes him so happy. Maybe Bambam was right.

"Okay, now, get to work! I'll check on you in about," Jae trails off, looking at his watch, "30 minutes to see how you're doing."

"Yes! I won't let you down!"

"Okay," Jae chuckles, turning around, hearing the other as he gets out his things to do his assignment.

"The sun, but with legs," Jae laughs once he's far enough into the shop that the other won't hear him. He has to tell Younghyun about this guy.

-

"I'm telling you man, he's the sun from the Teletubbies!" Jae snorts, holding the cup of coffee up to his lips before taking a sip. "He's like an anime character, all excited and happy. It's kind of endearing, actually."

Younghyun looks at the other with an amused smile on his face and takes a sip out of his own coffee, before speaking.

"But is he any good?"

"He is man, got potential, at least."

Younghyun stays quiet for a while before he gets that look on his face that tells everyone around him that he's about to say a bad joke.

"So he's good with his hands," he says and then starts laughing, putting down his coffee to prevent any accidents.

"Young, no..." Jae says. "That joke was funny the first twenty times."

"Oh, fuck off," Younghyun scoffs when he finally calms down, "I'm funny."

 


	4. Third

Wonpil is sitting at his desk (when he found out he had his own desk he almost cried), sketching happily, trying to keep the details as close to what the client asked, while Jae is doing just the same at his own desk.

When the 30 minutes are up, Jae gets up from his desk and stretches a bit, while Wonpil tries to finalize the sketch with some shading. His eyes are moving rapidly along the paper while his hands do just the same, quickly scribbling down lines and other details.

It is a very pretty tattoo, he thinks. A flower, that should be made to fit into a triangle shape, with some of the petals flowing out. He bade it to be a mauve and pink based work, thinking that it would suit it very well. He also added a gradient where the flower wound end so that the triangle would be easily distinguished. He was pretty proud of his work, but he knew not to expect it all the time.

This one piece, he was given some freedom with, as it wasn't actually going to be used as a tattoo, but at the same time, he had to stay as close to the initial project as possible.

Jae walks over to him, and he stops drawing, waiting patiently for Jae to give him some kind of verdict. However, Jae has other plans.

"You can continue, I know it's not finished."

Wonpil looks up at his teacher with wide eyes, but does as he says, trying to give him some room to see the actual drawing.

"Okay, done," he says after a few more minutes, looking up at Jae, who's face is neutral, however, his eyes aren't judging. Just analyzing.

"What's your process?" Jae asks, still evaluating Wonpil's work.

"My process? Oh, well, I started by drawing a few quick rough sketches and..."

Wonpil talked to Jae about how and why he did everything he did to end up with what he got, in exchange getting comments about line work and how and what he could tweak to ease the process and end up with a better piece.

The whole time, the apprentice felt happy and excited, his heart full and content. This is better than last time, he thinks. This is good.

 

-

 

"Hey, shorty!" Jae calls from somewhere inside the sanitizing room.

"Yes?"

"There's some money on my desk, take it and go buy me a coffee and get one for yourself too! Also a chocolate cupcake!"

Wonpil sighs, but does what Jae told him to nonetheless. He walked up to his desk and took one 20 dollar bill and chose to pay his with his own money. He then exited the parlour and crossed the street.

Just when he's about to enter, someone opens the door. It almost hits him, but he somehow manages to slide out of the its way.

"Oh, sorry!"

Oh, no, it's the hot man's voice.

Wonpil somehow managed to forget about the beautiful man, getting all caught up in his assignments. But now that he was reminded by his existence, he just wanted to cry.

"It's okay. Hello!" Wonpil says, trying to sound cheerful, despite his insides turning into mush with every word he utters.

The man takes a second, but when he puts two and two together, he smiles brightly at Wonpil. His heart does the thing again.

"Oh! Stressed guy! Are you doing better?" The man asks after a few seconds.

"Much better, thank you," is Wonpil's reply.

"Well, I gotta go, see you around!"

And with the other's departure, goes Wonpil's little moment of anxiety. He's been hiding at his desk all day drawing, did he look okay? Was his hair bad? Why did he leave so fast?

Then, he thinks about the fact that the man has his own life and most likely won't just sit around to chat with a guy who came to his work place once. Wonpil doesn't even know his name, for God's sake.

He sighs, going into the shop and up to the counter to order the drinks and Jae's cupcake, then going back to the parlour to go back to his drawing. If he had a tail, he would imagine it flailing sadly, while he sulks all the way back to the Jae calling him shorty.

He almost blows up. Almost.

 

-

 

"How do you deal with having a crush on someone you don't even the name of?" He asks his mother, who's sitting quietly next to him reading a book.

She looks up at him, eyes wide and lips trembling slightly. She's clearly trying not to smile, and usually Wonpil found it amusing, but at the moment he just wanted to have a few seconds to sulk to his mother.

"Well, you could get to know his-," she stops abruptly and Wonpil turns his head so fast that he almost gets whiplash, "-their name if you asked sweetie."

"Mom?" He asks, looking at her with wide eyes, as his fingers start tapping nervously on his thigh.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just- I wanted to let you tell me, not push it out of you."

Her expression was a truly apologetic one, and Wonpil hated seeing his mother like that, so he just sighed and said that it's okay. Although, it wasn't. His hands are shaking now and he doesn't know how to react.

"How'd you know?" He asks after a few seconds of heavy silence.

"Wonpil, please. You're my son. Of course I know," she laughs.

"And you don't mind?"

At those words she looks up at him, her laugh abruptly cut off. Mrs. Kim moves right next to Wonpil and hugs him tightly.

"I would never mind, sunshine. You're free to love who you want."

"Does- does dad..."

"Oh, of course he does. We talked about it a few times before, it's okay," her voice gets slower and slower, obviously a sign of her trying to say everything without crying. She's always done that, Wonpil knows, so he just hugs her back, and tries to calm her down.

"We love you, don't ever forget that. You know you have us as your backup whenever you need."

"You guys aren't my backup, you're my first priority, mom."

She laughs, remembering saying that to him time and time again and always getting the curt answer of "I know".

"I love you too," Wonpil says after a few seconds, trying his hardest to ignore the single tear rolling down his cheek.

After a few more moments like this, his mother let's him go and looks at him, wiping under her eyes.

"Now, tell me about this crush of yours," his mother says, smiling at him encouragingly.

He does, and it feels like he's finally free, despite the whispers at the back of his head reminding him of the past.

 

* * *

 

 

Going to the parlor has become somewhat of an escape for Wonpil lately.

Despite not having many reasons to not go home, he still wants to have some kind of freedom. His time spent with his parents is something he enjoys and cherishes dearly, but sometimes people need a break from even the people they love most.

Thinking about the past and other things he didn't want to think about never did him any good, so he buries himself in his work and listens to Jae like he was a God -- something Wonpil knew Jae would never let die if he found out.

He doesn't go into the coffee shop anymore, because every time he's gone there, he made a fool of himself. So he decides to only stay at his desk, his favorite crayons next to him as he diligently works on every detail of every piece he's given to finish.

Today, it's a big piece. Something he's never been assigned before. So he starts working, trying to clear his mind of any stray thoughts and gets to work.

"It's a very important client," Jae says when Wonpil asks who it's for. "He's been coming to us sometimes when he wants something with a lot of detail."

Wonpil's eyes widen. Jae rarely lets him draw something that's for an important client, even if it wouldn't end up on their skin anyway. He's excited again, happy for the new opportunity he's been given.

He gets back to work, announcing that he will do his best, as he always does. Unbeknownst to him, Jae's smirking, an unreadable glint in his eyes as he watches his student work.

Two hours later, he shows his progress to Jae, who gives him a few indications.

"When you deal with a customer's demands, you have to get a feel of what they're like before drawing something for them," Jae explains after finishing lecturing him about the shading and how it would look on the actual skin, "so your job, as a student that rarely meets the client, is harder. That's why, me, a kind soul, will now spill some tea."

Wonpil wants to roll his eyes so hard at that statement, but decides against it. He's never put feelings other than his own in a piece.

Jae tells him that the client has a pretty high status, in a way, and that his personality can differ. It's either badass and cool or polite and shy.

Wonpil doesn't really know what to do with this information, or how to start putting this into the piece, so, of course, his excitement skyrockets.

He gets to do not only do something _new,_ but also something he isn't used to.

So he redoes the thing entirely.

 

-

 

Two hours after he his talk with Jae, he decides to just take a walk, tired and stiff. He stretches out his arms and his fingers. His legs are numb, from sitting with his legs in a half-lotus position on the chair, which Jae told him is weirs, but it's _comfortable._ Or at least for the first half an hour, it is.

He tells Jae he's calling in his lunch hour and leaves after getting the ok from his teacher.

He walks aimlessly around the area. He's not quite used to it. It's six bus stations away from his home, and his university was on the other side of the city, so he never got to explore it.

He likes doing that, though. Walking around, looking for nothing in particular as he takes in the roads, the cars and everything else. It's nice. It gives him a sense of freedom he can't place.

On his way back, he sees a silhouette entering the tattoo parlour. Maybe it's the customer whose order he's been working on? He doesn't think it is, Jae told him that they're coming in in a week.

His curiosity is cut short by his stomach letting him know exactly how hungry he is. His lunch bag is in his backpack, but if he goes in, he'd have to talk with the person that just entered and he'd much rather not.

He checks his pockets and finds a twenty dollar bill that his mother gave him that morning.

_Convenience store three streets away, here I come._

He's having way too much fun with this.

 

-

 

On his way back to Day6 Tattoo Parlor, he keeps shoving chips in his mouth like he's going to die in a few seconds and this is going to be his last meal alive.

Do ghosts eat? He tries to come up with an answer to that question, completely ignoring his surroundings. Which, as always, is a grave mistake (pun intended).

He bumps into someone that just exited the same place he was going to enter, which gives him a sense of déjà-vu. Only, this time, it wasn't a door, it was the barista, and he didn't manage to slide away at the last moment, rather hit the man full on and fell on his ass in the middle of the street.

Why is it always his crush that he makes a fool of himself in front of?

"Oh, shit, sorry man."

"It's fine," Wonpil says, pushing his hands into the pavement to get up, only to fall back down.

"C'mon, let me help you up," the man says, holding his hand out and helping Wonpil up.

Turning around, Wonpil remembers his chips.

Which are now pathetically scattered across the ground, crunched and inedible. Wonpil wants to cry.

He feels something on his waist, and realizing it's a pair of hands he jumps, freaked out and embarrassed at the same time.

He sees that the man is holding something against his hips. A black sweater with long sleeves.

"You, uh... Ripped your pants, dude."

Wonpil's whole face goes aflame, his ears with it as he turns around and yelps, holding onto the sweater that's been placed there for dear life.

Of course, not taking into account the fact that the other man is still holding onto the sweater (and his hips, but he'd rather ignore that fact for now), so he just manages to turn both of them around, as the man jumps, trying to keep his arms from being injured and himself from falling.

Wonpil wants the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

The man lets his hands fall next to his body and Wonpil turns around, speechless.

"I'm sorry! Didn't mean to freak you out, just... You couldn't walk like that and-"

The barista cuts himself off and scratches his neck awkwardly.

"I-It's fine, I should be thanking you, actually. Uh, thanks. I- Can I borrow the sweater till tomorrow though?"

"Oh-oh, sure? I don't mind. You know where to find me, so..."

After a few more seconds of awkward silence, Wonpil hears someone clear his throat and looks towards the Tattoo Parlour door, where, of course, Jae is standing, clearly amused at the scene happening in front of him.

"Well, my best friend and my apprentice, both being idiots. Expected it from Wonpil, but Younghyun, really?"

"Your sarcasm is not necessary or appreciated right now, Chicken Little."

"Well, then, I'll just go, thank you! I'll give your sweater back tomorrow, bye!" Wonpil interrupts the feud.

After letting all of that get out of him in one breath, he runs into the shop and hides his head in his hands on the desk. His face is burning up, it feels itchy and he's sweating.

Scared of having to talk to Jae after he saw that whole ordeal, he just whimpers into his arm pitifully and waits for his teacher to come and make fun of him.

Which, surprisingly, doesn't happen.

He waits for ten minutes, then fifteen. After such a long time, he finally gets bored and starts drawing.

A drawing which ends up being the barista's face- Younghyun. He now knows his name. That's good. It's progress.

 _You just ripped your pants from falling in front of him and you're saying you're progressing?_ He tells himself.

Well, then.

 

-

 

"Want me to drive you home?" Jae asked after they wrapped everything up.

"Oh, uh, actually, if you don't mind," Wonpil smiles sheepishly at the man, thanking every deity that he doesn't have to walk with his butt covered by a sweater in the middle of a summer night.

"Come on then."

Wonpil follows Jae out, to his car. A black, shining, clean car waiting for them to get in. With AC. And seats. Wonpil almost starts crying.

"Have I ever told you I loved you, Jae?"

Said man just looks at Wonpil as if he's crazy, opening the door for the younger.

"Wonpil, shorty, we've only known each other for 2 weeks," Jae says.

Wonpil just looks at him through angry eyes and tries to remind himself of the fact that if parallel universes exist, Jae might be a decent person in one of them.

"Fine. See if I'll ever try to be nice again," Wonpil says, crossing his arms.

"Sure, sunshine, whatever you say."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whO cOUlD tHE ClieNT bE
> 
> also this is a little longer, because i put two chapters together instead of separating them. i hope you enjoy it:)


	5. fourth

Jae being a pain in the ass, to Wonpil, is something normal. It's an everyday occurrence. It's fine.

However, he didn't take into consideration the fact Jae is somewhat of an evil genius that just sits at his desk all day and may or may not contemplate Wonpil's demise.

That's what Wonpil thought, at least.

The problem at hand is not Jae being trash, not even close. It was Jae, inviting his best friend, also known as Mr. Hot Barista over to have a 'chat'. A chat, in Wonpil's opinion, the two could have had, and usually would have, Wonpil assumes, at the coffee shop.

So there's only one explanation. Jae is onto him. He either knows he's attracted to Younghyun, or that he's gay. Neither seem like good news and Wonpil is _this_ close to having a breakdown.

"Yeah, so I told him to get me a coffee and then the boss showed up and gave me that look. You know the one," Jae said, sipping his coffee gingerly, as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

The way other people would see the situation would be this: there's a guy with a neon green hair clip in a polka-dotted apron and a skinny blond man full of tattoos, sitting cross-legged on the floor of a tattoo parlor reception room.

The way Wonpil saw it was this: the devil incarnated speaking to his crush, killing him with every passing second as he told Younghyun different stories that make Wonpil want to just shrivel up and _die._

"Wonpil, you done with the sketch?" Jae asks, when he sees the other's scrutinizing look.

"No."

"Well then? Chop chop!"

Wonpil sighed. _Don't get on your teacher's bad side, Wonpil. You have a dream to fulfill. Talent and fame is waiting for you. Justin_ _Bieber_ _and Dwayne Johnson will one day be sporting your tattoos on their_ _skin-_

"Anyway, what'd you think of him, Young?"

Wonpil almost broke his pencil. He coughed loudly, trying to get the attention of dumb and pretty.

"I think we're getting in the way of his work, Jae," Younghyun said, smiling at Wonpil, who looked to be trying to concentrate.

"Oh, no, it's just his face."

"Jae?" Wonpil's had enough.

"Yes, Wonpil, dear?"

"Shut up."

Younghyun snorts loudly at this, before delivering some satisfying yet kind of weird sounds of laughter.

"Well, then," Jae said, trying to look offended. Wonpil knows that look. He will not be fooled anymore.

 

 

_

 

Wonpil (16:34)  
Bam I got a problem

Bambamho (16:36)  
Whaddup

Wonpil (16:36)  
There's a v hot guy across the street  
And Jae knows that I rlyrly like him  
And I need u to send help

Bambamho (16:38)  
By that do you mean what I think u mean

Wonpil (16:38)  
Yes  
Get into ur sonic mode cuz imma die

Bambamho (16:38)  
gotTA GO FAST

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Wonpil knew that his plan was the easy way out and most likely wouldn't get anything good out of it in the long run, but as per usual, he really didn't care. As long as he got Jae off his case, it was okay.

Waiting for his best friend to arrive, he tried ignoring his teacher and his crush for a while.

"He's pretty good, but don't tell him I said that," Jae says in a hushed tone.

"I heard that!"

"Bug off, puppy!" Jae replied.

This is going to be a long day.

After half an hour of waiting, he finally hears someone enter the shop and looks up. His red-headed friend is here, holding a lunch bag and sporting a fake expression of sweetness.

God, Wonpil loves him.

"Ah, hello, sorry, I just came to drop these off for Won- Oh, hi Younghyun," he hears his best friend say and freezes on the spot.

"Bambam! Hi! Haven't seen you in ages! How are you?"

"Oh you know, pretty good. Anyway, I don't wanna hold you anymore I'll just drop this off and leave," he smiles.

"Oh, he's down the hall to the left," Jae directs and turns back to his conversation with Younghyun.

Wonpil waits for it.

"You didn't tell me your crush was Younghyun and I am hurt."

There it is.

"How was I supposed to know that you two knew each other?" Wonpil asks, a little too loudly. This day has taken a toll on him and he really wonders if he should take a few days to himself. He could, if he wasn't an apprentice.

"Wonpil, I just... I don't think he's gay," Bambam says, looking at Wonpil guiltily.

"What?"

"He only dates girls as far as I know," his best friend continues. "We know each other from college, and if he were, he'd have... Said something I think."

"Bi?"

"Wonpil..."

"I know, I know. It wouldn't have worked anyways it's fine. I guess I just got too excited for a few, it's fine."

With this, Wonpil gets up and offers to show Bambam the way out while trying to brush off his best friend's worried "I'm sorry"s.

Bambam kisses his cheek at the exit and Wonpil blushes for what seems like the 100th time that day.

"At least make him think you got someone," Bambam whispers in his ear when hugging him goodbye.

After getting away from everyone, and into the safety of his workroom that he shared with Jae, he finally lets himself slack off. The big piece he was supposed to do since yesterday lay there wasted and uncompleted while Wonpil sulked.

"Well, an actual sad puppy, didn't think I'd see the day, sunshine," Jae says when entering the door.

"I'll get to work right now, sorry," Wonpil says, afraid that he'll make Jae mad. He doesn't really ever see the other mad and he's not to keen on finding out how he behaves, at least not at the moment.

"It's fine, pup. You can leave early if you want."

"Oh, no, it's okay!"

"Just go before I change my mind, shorty."

Wonpil is both annoyed at the stupid nicknames Jae keeps coming up with and relieved that the other let him go. He really doesn't feel any kind of desire to be productive.

"Well, thank you," Wonpil says and goes to leave, forgetting about the black sweater that sits at the bottom of his backpack, too busy with his conflicting feelings to remember his promise to Younghyun.


	6. Fifth

He doesn't feel hurt, not really. He's more embarrassed, getting ahead of himself like that and actually treating this man like a crush that maybe could be more when he didn't even know him well.

He didn't hear his name from himself either, he heard it from Jae.

Bambam called him that night when he got home from work and asked if he was okay. To which he could only respond with 'yes' and 'I'm fine', although he wasn't, not really.

Wonpil was just getting too comfortable. He got his wish of starting under tutelage at a cool and respected tattoo shop, started building something for himself and just deluded himself into thinking it was okay to like someone related to that place.

He settles on his bed with an exhausted yawn and tries to fall asleep when he realizes something. He forgot to give the sweater back to Younghyun.

He maybe could ask Jae to give it to him when they see each other.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"No can do, sorry."

Wonpil's mood just hit rock bottom with those words.

"Why? Can't you, please," manners, Wonpil reminds himself, "Just give it to him when you next see each other?"

"You got it from him, you should return it. Sorry, I don't make the rules, pup-pup."

 _But you do,_ is the only thing Wonpil thinks before he retreats, defeated, to his own desk.

 

 

-

 

 

 _"I can do this,"_ is what Wonpil's told himself, dreading the end of his day.

But now that he's faced with the door of the coffee shop, all he can think is how much he just wants to go and hide under his desk.

"Okay," he says, before finally pushing the door open and entering the shop. Or hell. He doesn't know which is which at this point anymore.

"Good evening, what can I- oh, hi!" Younghyun says from behind the counter, smiling at Wonpil and his heart starts beating faster. He wills it to calm down and approaches the counter.

"I, uh, came to give you your sweater, sorry I couldn't give it back yesterday, I, uh, I forgot," Wonpil explains, rummaging through his backpack for the item of clothing.

"Oh, no worries," Younghyun says, brushing it off.

Wonpil finally finds it and gives it back to the man.

"Well, uh, that's all. Thank you!" Wonpil smiles, hoping it seems real, because the last thing he wants to do right now is smile.

"Wait!" He hears the other say after he turns around.

He looks back at the man and waits for him to speak, which apparently takes a few seconds.

"Which way are you going?"

 _Wonpil, no,_ he tells himself.

"Rivers Neighbourhood," Wonpil answers.

"Oh, I'm going that way! Can you wait two minutes so that I can change? I just finished my shift," Younghyun says and Wonpil curses the stars that light up in the other's eyes because he's not gay and Wonpil is and it's becoming a problem.

So, of course, his mind yells at him "Wonpil, no."

"Sure, that's okay."

And that's the moment the imaginary Angel on his shoulder would look at him and tell him how pitiful he is, but he ignores his thoughts. This won't become a habit, so one walk isn't going to kill him.

He goes to sit down and wait for the man, trying to calm himself down and think of this rationally. He has a crush on a straight, beautiful man and (as Bambam put it, oh, so eloquently) his little gay heart can't stand that thought.

After a few minutes he hears Younghyun saying "Goodbye, Sungjin!" before appearing from a door behind the counter, with two coffee cups in his hands.

"This is for you, it gets cold late at night," Younghyun says, handing him one of the cups and Wonpil wants to die.

-

"So you were homeschooled?" Wonpil asks.

"Yeah, from fifth grade to my senior year in high school. But then I decided to go to college," the other answers, taking a sip out of his now cold coffee.

When they exited the shop, Younghyun immediately started talking and asking Wonpil questions, leaving no room for awkward silence. At first, Wonpil freaked out, scared of the fact that he might say something that would give off the wrong impression (or the right one, which is just as terrifying).

However, after a few minutes, he let himself get comfortable, the atmosphere engulfing him in a warm blanket despite the fact that it was a little bit too cold for the summer.

He learned many things about the other. He found out that he was an year older, lived in Canada before he want to college and that he loves playing the bass and guitar. Wonpil, in turn, told him that he used to play the piano when he was in college, but quit pretty soon because of his own studies.

It felt nice, talking to the other like this. It was as if he didn't have to hide anything, that these words won't ever get to the outside world, that this was going to stay between them, like their own little moment. However, he quickly discarded that thought.

_He doesn't like you._

"It was okay," Younghyun continues, "college I mean. But I didn't exactly do what I wanted to and it stressed me out a bit. So I changed majors, which is a pain in the ass, by the way."

Wonpil nods, understanding what he means. He himself never had to, but some other friends of him from college did, and it was clearly not an easy thing.

"How about you, ever wanted to do something other that be a tattoo artist?" Younghyun asks him, looking at him.

"Oh, no, I didn't. Fell in love with tattoos when I was fairly young," he answers.

"That's so cool, doing something that you wanted to do since you were little."

Despite it not being exactly a compliment, Wonpil still thought of it as one. The way Younghyun said it, it had some kind of meaning that Wonpil couldn't put him finger on.

"Were you small when you were little?" Younghyun changes the subject, eyebrows raised in a somehow mocking expression.

"Is that supposed to be a jab at my height?"

"Absolutely."

"I'm not that short! It's not my fault you and Jae are giants!"

Younghyun laughs, loudly, and puts his hand on Wonpil's head, petting his head curtly.

"Sure, pup-pup."

Wonpil blushes, the feeling of Younghyun's hand on the crown of his head remaining there, like a ghost that's mocking him, reminding him of what he won't have.

"You're almost as bad as Jae," he answers with a pout on his face, to which Younghyun adopts an offended look.

"Rude! I'm worse than Jae, how could you?"

Wonpil bursts into laughter at this, his eyes closed and his hand reaching to Younghyun's shoulder to support himself.

Of course, he doesn't see the way the holder's eyes look at him with warmth and the other pretends it never happened as he pinches Wonpil when another jab at his hair comes into discussion.

"It's cool, stop judging!"


	7. Sixth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Where are you? Are you okay? Did someth-" he stops himself when Jae's sleepy voice registers in his mind. "Were you sleeping?"
> 
> "Huh? Oh, yeah, it's my day off, I forgot to tell you, sorry." He doesn't sound the least bit apologetic, but Wonpil lets it slide.

The empty room confuses him. Despite the fact that he's always at least twenty minutes early, Jae usually meets him when he walks through the door. Good thing he has a key, or he'd be stuck outside.

He calls for his name and looks around in all rooms, even knocks on the bathroom door, but it's all in vain. Jae's not here. Wonpil decides to just wait for his teacher at his desk. At least do something productive.

His favorite Nell song fills the silence while he waits.

Twenty minutes pass.

Then half an hour. An hour.

Wonpil's a bit concerned, thinking that something happened to Jae. Dozens of macabre ways to die or injure yourself while walking on the street fly around in his mind as he presses the phone against his ear. The beeps annoy him, and he taps his fingers against the desk.

"-ello?"

"Where are you? Are you okay? Did someth-" he stops himself when Jae's sleepy voice registers in his mind. "Were you sleeping?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's my day off, I forgot to tell you, sorry." He doesn't sound the least bit apologetic, but Wonpil lets it slide.

"Oh, should I go home then?" Wonpil asks and changes his position in the chair.

"I mean, yeah, what'd a student do without his teacher right?" Wonpil can hear the smirk in Jae's voice. "Or hang out with Brian."

"Brian?"

"Younghyun, dumbass."

And with that, the call ends, leaving Wonpil very confused about what he should do with himself.

So he packs the colored crayons in his backpack, puts back the sharpies and walks back out the door, pretending as if today didn't happen. Embarassed, he makes his was down the street and towards the bus stop.

His phone buzzes with a message notification.

 **Younghyun**  
**(10:38 A.M.)**

_hey, heard from jae. wanna hang?_

He smiles at the device in his hands involuntarily. The first thing that comes to his mind is the question of who even uses the term "hang" anymore. The second is that maybe this day isn't as bad as he thought.

 

 

"It's embarassing, really," Younghyun laughs.

Wonpil pouts at him, dissatisfied with his refusal and rests his head against his hands on the counter, looking up at the other.

"Okay, okay, shit, don't look at me with those eyes," another laugh, and Wonpil feels butterflies flap around in his stomach. Maybe it's actually a tornado. He can't even tell at this point. "It was during high-school, I was lonely, I guess. I started up a band and I wanted a cool stage name- stop laughing!"

Wonpil can't hold in the giggles anymore, but tries to muffle them behind his hands. The story itself isn't funny, but the way Younghyun stutters and blushes over the memory is too much for a man as weak as him to handle.

"So Brian came up. And then YoungK, and now I just- Hey!"

Younghyun hits his shoulder lightly with a weak fist and Wonpil struggles to breathe for a second. He clears his throat and straightens up, looks around and asks why he works at a coffee shop.

From then on, for an hour or so, the conversation flows smoothly. Wonpil laughs at him when he has to go back into the kitchen to help with the pastries and laughs even more when Younghyun returns with flour on his cheek, swiping at it and reminding Wonpil of a cat.

He decides he's in too deep when Younghyun drinks some of his coffee and his mind immediately goes to an indirect kiss. Only after watching Younghyun's Adam's apple move with each gulp and restraining himself from swiping away at the patch of milk on the other's upper lip, like a teenager, does he realize how big of a hole he's dug himself.

It comes crashing down with a sense of guilt. When Younghyun is gone once again to help his co-worker and Wonpil is exhausted by the conversation and wanting more, he reminds himself of why this could never work. He knows that Younghyun's not gay, and knows that he'd never look at Wonpil the way Wonpil looks at him. The easy way their conversation flows between the two of them, the new facts he learns abput the other, all of them amount to nothing more than friendship in the other's eyes, and he still keeps his hopes up.

He feels guilty, thinking of blue eyes and a rose tattoo, and how he loved those too. How he should have stopped. He thinks of holding Younghyun's hand and kissing his cheek after a date, of riding with him on the new rides at the amusement park, and how he had the same hopes and wishes before.

And how they amounted to nothing more than a broken vase and a ripped paper, the rose tattoo no longer black and white, but red, and the feeling of having no one to keep him safe.

These dark thoughts, they remind him of how he shouldn't want. _Want_ isn't for him.

"If you wait half an hour we can go back together," Younghyun calls from the kitchen.

Wonpil wants to say yes. Wonpil want to hope and to talk about college, about how he would've started playing the piano but then fractured his wrist.

But he also wants to say no, because he remembers the rose.

"I actually have to go home in ten minutes, I'm sorry," he calls back, fumbling with his backpack's zippers.

Younghyun comes back out, more flour on his face. "Well, that's okay. Are you sure?"

Wonpil nods, fake but convincing, and starts packing the drawings he was showing Younghyun less than five minutes ago.

Ten minutes later, he leaves with a new latte on the house ("It's cold, and there's no loss. I'll just drink one less latte today, it isn't going kill me.") and he finds that his coat and the drink isn't enough to keep the cold out.

 

 

Younghyun is a very calm and collected man, or at least tries to be as much as possible. In the words of his best friend, he's very "chill".

And so, like every "chill" 23 year old man with a blind date scheduled, he begins watching youtube videos on blind dates and how everything went horribly wrong.

One date shit his pants, and Younghyun is the most grossed out he's been in a while and another was awkward and plain bad, before it turned sexually awkward as well.

And then he goes from a very relaxed and "chill" man, to a very scared and anxious man, which is as fun as it sounds.

So now he is sitting on his bed staring helplessly at his wardrobe and considering calling Sungjin and convincing him to cancel the date.

But at the same time, he really wants this date to go well. He hasn't dated anyone in more than a year. No loving gazes, no happy and calm walks on the beach. No romance, and it has been bothering him for a long time. He's an affectionate person, although he rarely shows it. He likes telling people he's there without using his words, but embraces and holding hands, and likes having the attention of someone solely aimed at him. It used to be easy, talking and laughing and cuddling someone, kissing their nose and having fun with someone you want to do everything with.

But there's also bad timing, distances too vast for love to reach both people and other people demanding attention.

It was easy, until it wasn't anymore and Younghyun just gave up.

Until yesterday, when Sungjin showed up and started going off about how he was concerned because Younghyun has been alone for too long, and how he knows this very sweet young man that already agreed and there was no getting out of it. He tried everything. That he was sick, but Sungjin then told him to take an aspirin and stop lying. He said he found someone, but then Sungjin asked for their name. So he gave in, and now he's worrying about what clothes to wear and if the person he's going to go on a date with likes music and whether or not it was going to be awkward.

Then he thought about Wonpil. About how cute he is when he smiles at Younghyun. About the way he sometimes lets his mouth hang open before talking, as if he was thinking about what to say next, but is most likely distracted by something in his vicinity. But those thoughts he pushed away pretty quickly, because he remembered the red-haired man that kissed his cheek and brought him lunch.

He chooses something nice. A black, large dress-shirt that Jae, the master of owning only black and white, approved on when he send a picture accompanied by too many question marks and black jeans. Nothing too fancy, nothing too plain. He can do this.

Is what he thinks before he looks at the clock above his living room door and realizes that if he doesn't leave in less than five minutes, he'll be late.

So he runs to the bus station and tries not to think about the daisy tattoo, or how his shoes look very shabby.

 

 

Bambam is a good person. Bambam doesn't lie about things important to Wonpil, unless it's about cereal he stole from him when he slept over, or an embarassing story he doesn't want Wonpil to make fun of him about (which are very important, too).

But this, this had to be a lie.

The photo of Younghyun kissing a boy in the middle of a parking lot that Bambam send him less than three minutes ago has to be a lie. The man with the blond hair, whose profile was exactly as Wonpil drew it yesterday and as he is drawing now could absolutely, surely not be real.

Because if somehow it is (which it _isn't,_ it _can't_ be), then Wonpil would have to aknowledge the way his heart dropped to the soles of his feet and shattered on the way down.

 

 

"How was it?"

"How was what?" Younghyun asked, hoping to make Sungjin shut up.

"The date, don't play dumb. How was it?"

 _How was it?_   Younghyun asked himself. He didn't have much to compare it to. Last year and this year, they're two different periods in his life. He's different than he used to be, his perspective has been subjected to a lot of changing. In retrospective, it was nice, cute. They even kissed, just before his date left. It wasn't just a quick peck either, but... He wasn't sure if this person was someone he'd want as more than a friend. Of course, he was funny, interesting and nice to talk to about important things. Fairly attractive, too. He was clearly making an effort to make Younghyun comfortable, having been warned by Sungjin (Younghyun can only assume) that he hasn't gone out with someone in a long time.

But the connection he was looking for wasn't there. They kissed on the first date, something Younghyun has nothing against, not at all, he likes kissing.It's great. Feels good. But something about the fact that it happened so fast, it was weird and made him uncomfortable and he doesn't know what to think about that.

So it was not what he expected. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, a voice told him it wasn't what he wanted either— who he wanted, rather.

He shut it down quick and told Sungjin it was okay, that they had fun. He wanted to be nice, didn't want Sungjin's friend to be hurt if the man ever tells him about this conversation.

And then, as if nothing happened, he turned back to his laptop and started reading up on the specific tattoo technique Wonpil has been babbling about in the last few days.

—

"Wonpil!"

He quickly runs to the work room after Jae's call, leaving the coffee maker in the kitchen to brew.

"Yes?"

"Why hasn't your boyfriend come by lately?" the other asks him with interest, his eyes glued to the computer screen.

"My boyfriend?" he asks, suddenly feeling very confused.

"Yeah, the red-haired dude that dropped by like, last week or something. You can hang with him here as long as you still do your work, you know?"

It came back to him pretty quickly, the small peck on his cheek and the _"at least make him think you have someone"_ the other left him with after his little Younghyun-related crisis.

"Oh! No-no, he's not my boyfriend!" he says quickly, flailing his hands around. Jae finally looks at him, with one eyebrow higher than the other and he feels cornered.

"Do you usually let your friends kiss your cheek?"

"Wel, that was..." he trails off, not knowing how to explain to Younghyun's best friend that he wanted to make Younghyun jealous as a very pathetic way to hide his interest in the man.

So he stopped talking and looked at the ground.

"Do you generally look like a kicked puppy, or is that a way to make people feel bad for ever putting you in an uncomfortable situation?"

_"Huh?"_

 

 

  
There's something oddly soothing about listening to sad songs just after letting someone down with a whole paragraph as to why he isn't ready to date or have anything going on romantically.

Younghyun chooses to think that he can hide behind this song. This whole "I don't love you" spiel is awfully dramatic for what he's feeling at the moment, clearly not having reached that kind of feeling for the man, but it seemed like the only thing to reflect his thoughts without being too up beat. So he listened to the harmony of two voices apologizing for not loving someone— who, he isn't sure, nor was he sure why— and tried to figure out humans' odd desire to relate to things.

It was his favorite pass-time, just after the _what is wrong with me and why do I constantly let people down_ column. After that, he found out, he would be entering into the _dwelling about past relationships_ territory, which, to be fair, was better than the previous one. In a way.

And somewhere along the lines, someone— Younghyun doesn't want that responsibility— added the _figuring out Wonpil's tattoos_ and _remembering his smile_ to the list. He doesn't know what to think of that.

He ignores it and chooses to go back to overthinking.

The thing about him and his love life is, well. It's like this: having to go through the dating process, and getting to know others and starting out a new relationship, it was useless for others. They wanted to jump straight into domestic, cute talks and holding hands (oh God, holding hands) and fucking. While most people would hate having to wait and actually start developing feelings, Younghyun likes it. He likes figuring out people, and he loves spending a bit too much time with someone because they've been talking about their dreams and what color they'd want their shirt if they only got to wear one for the rest of their lives.

Sungjin calls him cheesy. Jae calls him old-fashioned.

Younghyun calls himself too picky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry for how long this took,,, inspiration hits at random times,,,
> 
> i hope you enjoyed!! also tell me what you think about the change of perspective in this chapter!! maybe i'll do it some more in the oncoming chapters


	8. Chapter 8

Wonpil has a theory. Or had. Maybe he still believes it if he forgets that he's in the real world for a second.

Maybe, by chance, Younghyun was sucked into a black hole. Now, this may sound childish and weird, but if it did happen— it could have— then maybe some kind of space-time ripple effect would have affected their reality and somehow changed Younghyun's sexuality.

He doesn't actually know if that could happen, nor does he know what actual ripples in space-time would do to the Earth or reality as a whole, but one thing keeps this hypothesis from becoming an actual fact. It, too, is completely subjectively-modified so that it could make Wonpil happy, but the man can try.

If that, and as he has already established could have, happened then Younghyun is now gay. And if he thought crushing on a straight guy was what hurt most, he is now facing another problem: his— possibly, for now— gay crush could just... not be into him.

And that somehow made him both feel worse and better. Worse, for obvious reasons and better, well, because he is usually a man who likes having hope. He likes hoping and keeping things at a safe distance the same.

And that, too, brought up a question he doesn't think he's ready to face yet.

So instead of dealing with the reality of things and the now deleted picture from his phone (he only deleted that after calling Bambam to point out not very kindly that taking pictures of people without them knowing isn't an okay thing to do), he goes to work to try and lose himself in his drawings and leaves the unfinished sketch of Younghyun's complexion home, where it can't haunt him all the way to work.

When he arrives, however, Jae is moving things around in the kitchen at the pace of a cheetah hunting its prey— Wonpil isn't great with animal facts.

"What's happening?" he asks, looking at Jae like he's grown a third arm.

"Sungjin's coming."

"Oh! Oh?"

Wonpil wonders why that is a bad thing. Why is Jae sweating all of a sudden?

Jae stops and looks at him.

"Sungjin is coming here."

"Okay..."

"He's going to find that egg we dropped and never cleaned up, then the glass you shattered when I scared you, and the printer we broke, Wonpil."

Finally, Wonpil's mind started working. Although those weren't their fault, as much as it was Jae's, he felt a rush of anxiety. What if he gets all the blame? What if he gets kicked out?

Suddenly, he finds himself running around almost as fast as Jae is, trying to clean up the mess they've made of the kitchen and the work room. He gets a mop and a broom, even the old, cheap vacuum Jae told him he could use to scare the cats away from the front of the shop and starts cleaning.

They finish three minutes before Sungjin arrives, and Wonpil wonders how they even made such a mess in the mere two weeks he's been working here.

Objectively, working with Jae wasn't that bad.

"Oh, fuck, shorty, he's here."

Subjectively, though. He wishes the space-time ripple would have changed some aspects of his teacher's personality.

—

"Hey, Sungjin!" Younghyun says when the other steps in.

"Well, look who it is. Single and annoying," the man answers.

He scoffs, going back to washing some of the plates in the kitchen and making sure the oven's okay before going to his dressing room. Sungjin follows him with quick and heavy steps. Even when he's leisurely walking around, the man still oozes authority and demands attention. Younghyun is just the slightest bit annoyed at that fact.

"How are you?"

"Good. Working. Dowoon's still a great baker. You still have a crush on him. The world's still a shitty place to be," Younghyun replies, as if he didn't just denounce his own friend.

"I do- I do not!"

"Sure you do. You wrote him that song, didn't you?"

Younghyun loves it when he makes his friends speechless. One of the perks of listening to their random rambling and reading in between the lines.

"Okay, I'm not dealing with this shit. I just came back from the tattoo shop, it was way too clean and now I'm freaked out. Thankfully everything was fine."

"Too clean? Aren't tattoo parlors usually clean?"

"Well, the actual rooms they use are you know, sanitary and you can't find a speck of dust there- But, Jae cooks in the kitchen?"

"Is that a question?"

"It's an exclamation. Also a dire situation," Sungjin answers, making Younghyun laugh for what seems the first time in hours.

"Rhymes."

"Well, I'm a good songwriter, you know?"

"Show your skills to Dowoon, he'd appreciate them a lot."

The moment Sungjin blushes he knows he's done his job well. He dusts off his apron and puts it in the locker, then slams the small door and goes back inside the café, where Sungjin follows with the same heavy steps and annoying aura.

"What do you say we go to Karaoke? Like the old times?" Sungjin asks. Younghyun almost accepts the invitation, but an image of a certain man flashes in his head and his plans are already made.

"No, I have something to do, sorry. Sunday?" he can't draw attention to this, or else Sungjin will be questioning him for the next millennium.

"Oh, well sure. Has Dowoon gone home already?"

"Did you see him here, Mr. Whipped?"

Sungjin just grunts and tells him he'd better see him on Sunday, or else there would be a fight. Younghyun sends him off with a wave of his hand and picks up his wallet.

The tattoo shop is quiet, save for Wonpil's hushed questions for Jae. Younghyun assumes they're working, so he makes his presence known with a very loud "Honey! I'm home!". The reply he gets is a " Go back, then!" from Jae, which would roughly translate to "Come in, then." in Jae's book.

He approaches the work room and smiles at both of them.

"Hello, Wonpil."

Wonpil seems to not have heard him, his expression concentrated. He looks adorable, with his nose scrunched and eyes moving after his pencil.

"Shorty!" Jae said loudly, and both Wonpil and Younghyun flinched at the loud voice.

"Huh?" he said as he looked up. He then turns to Younghyun and his expression is unreadable for a second, before turning happy. "Hi! How are you?"

"Was wondering if I could hang around 'till you're done," he says, purposefully ignoring the look Jae is giving him.

"I mean- Jae?" Wonpil asked, looking for his teacher's approval.

"Sure, do whatever. Just don't annoy me too much, dipshit."

Jae gets easily annoyed when- Always, actually. But even more so when he's working, so Younghyun decides not to interrupt him too much. Just enough to get his attention. Yes, good plan.

For the next 30 minutes, he keeps asking Jae questions and demanding his attention, for the sole purpose of being a bad best friend and disrupting the way too quiet work room. He tries to keep it down, though, after Wonpil drops his pencil.

Once Jae's had enough of Younghyun, he goes and checks on Wonpil and starts talking to him in his "professor voice" as Jae likes to call it. Younghyun just dubs it as a bad impression of a posh man looking at contemporary art pieces.

"Wanna go together?" Younghyun asks Wonpil after Jae had finally decided to let everyone go home, as he pretends it's not the reason he even dropped by and waited for them to finish at all.

Wonpil smiles, large and inviting and Younghyun lets it hit him full force, filling him with a feeling of happiness he hasn't been subjected to in years. He suddenly feels like a little boy on Christmas morning, giddy and excited.

"Sure!"

How only one word can make a man happy is beyond Younghyun's understanding.

 

There's many things Wonpil finds fascinating about Younghyun. The slight outward curve of his nose, the way his eyelashes compliment his cheekbones when he looks at the ground, the way light can never do his eyes enough justice, all of those things, Wonpil finds intriguing, beautiful and confusing all the same.

How this has moved from a simple attraction towards a good-looking person serving him two coffees and a chocolate cupcake to his heart running a mile a second around in his body is beyond him.

For a few moments, Younghyun kissing someone else escapes his mind. He isn't sure if he's bad person for that.

Once they reach Wonpil's alley, his mood plummets. For some reason, which he doesn't want to acknowledge, thinking about having to go home makes him feel an emptiness in his stomach he hasn't felt in some time. He's so tired, exhausted even, but going their separate ways right now, it feels like preparing to cut off a limb.

"Do you want to walk some more?" Younghyun asks. Did he sense Wonpil's hesitation? "I don't really feel like going home, but it's okay! You must be tired."

Wonpil thinks about it, although the answer should be pretty clear. But for once in his life, he decides to do what benefits him and not what he wants to do.

"I should really get going, though, you know? Mom's waiting for me and I think I should rest a bit."

Younghyun's face falls, but he recovers quickly. That damn understanding smile makes Wonpil's heart beat even faster and he needs to go home.

Younghyun says goodbye. Wonpil smiles and then leaves.

And Younghyun turns back, the opposite direction and goes home, too, wondering if Sungjin would be okay with going to Karaoke at 10 PM on a Wednesday night.

 

Jae doesn't have much of an opinion on Wonpil, other than that he's a ball of energy 24 hours a day.

He's got good skills. He's looked at his portfolio, dissected every painting to try and make a list for the other. He's his first apprentice, and although he's been advised by many to try and "thoughen him up", he just couldn't. He's seen how others work with their pupils, how they scream and chastise them for everything they do wrong. How easily annoyed they get at every small mistake, or how they make them take out the garbage and set up everything for them.

He didn't have to deal with such harsh treatment, although it definitely wasn't as easy as Wonpil has it. Curiosity makes him want to try and be a bit harsher, maybe actually be like his friends, to try and test the waters. But Wonpil's dedicated. He works hard without having to be told, takes Jae's jokes at his expense and never complains. Even when he has to draw butterflies for three hours and trace line work and exercise his lettering for six more, he never even bats an eye, only gets his pencils and thanks Jae when he hands him the drawings.

It's confusing, of course. Being a teacher, or a mentor (Jae hates the word, but it fits) isn't as hard as he thought.

And he doesn't know if that's a good thing.

So when Sungjin comes up to him and asks for an update and the inventory, Jae considers asking him.

And because he's shameless, he does.

"Am I supposed to be, like, harsher?"

Not the best wording, but Sungjin has always understood him.

"Is he doing his work?" Sungjin asks back.

"Well, it's Wonpil, so..."

"Then I don't see why you should try and change it up."

Jae is not satisfied with that answer, though.

"Aren't apprentices supposed to be, I don't know..." he stops to find the word, "bratty?"

"Ones that only started, of course. They're not used to having to work hard. But this isn't Wonpils first rodeo."

"You sound like an old man," Jae laughs, "What do you mean?"

"This is his second apprenticeship."

"Why did we accept him, then?" Jae asks. If he gave up once, why should he get a second chance that most don't?

"Special circumstances. Also, he's better than most. Don't you like working with him?" Sungjin's voice is accusing, almost protective. Jae doesn't know what's going on anymore.

"I do, that's not the problem. He's good and works hard, but I-"

"Then don't complain and give him something to do. He'll take the Test in three months if he's ready, if not, we can push it both ways. Depends on when you and I think he's ready."

That shuts Jae up. He feels awkward, but he still wants to ask, wants to know why Wonpil got this kind of treatment. But one thing he doesn't want to do is actually make Sungjin angry, so he just goes back to presenting the itinerary and telling him what else he needs to complete the next order.

Sungjin asks if Wonpil needs anything else and Jae's mind is all confused once again.

He decides to let it go, though. He has to be a professional, and this is none of his business.

 

"What's wrong with you?" Bambam asks him, concerned expression making Wonpil recoil even more. But ignoring Bambam's help has never been something he allowed himself to do.

"Younghyun is my problem."

His best friend whispers a small "oh" and sits down next to him on his bed. It's the middle of the night and they're still sitting around Wonpil's baby-blue room, playing charades, watching movies and just having their fun. That is, until Wonpil remembered Younghyun and how he declined his offer. How he kissed a boy and Wonpil had to pretend he didn't know. Or how he wished he were that boy.

Well- It's like this: Wonpil cannot think of Younghyun without thinking about everything before him. Before he was handed that cup of coffee, he tried to forget as much of the past as possible.

But when he is with Younghyun, it doesn't matter. It scatters in the wind, like ashes, and then takes the beautiful form of a man taller than Wonpil and with eyes like the sun.

When he's with him, he feels good. It's like walking on a brand new path, clear of any obstacles and surrounded by monuments to decipher. It's fun, intriguing and makes him feel alive.

But he comes back from his high when they part ways, and remembers that he lives in the real world. That nothing is as simple as he wishes, and that it's been proven many times before.

But how can he convey this? How can he let this escape his mouth and let Bambam help?

"Is it because he kissed a man?" his friend asks. The air is serious. Wonpil wants to go back to watching movies, because he doesn't care about Younghyun kissing other people, he doesn't.

He has no right to, at least.

"Well, yeah," he says, because it's easier.

Bambam sighs and asks if he wants to cuddle and trash-talk people, or if he wants to hear how shitty night college is.

And he agrees, because his best friend is trying to make him feel better, even if it doesn't necessarily work. At least he can pretend that Bambam's stories are what he wants to hear and that the arms of someone who loves him like Bambam does can fulfil the way he wants Younghyun to hold him.

He's good at that. Acting is his speciality.


End file.
